Twelve TSA agents and airport workers have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Puerto Rico for allegedly helping to smuggle tons of cocaine through the airport in San Juan.

U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez said that the defendants smuggled suitcases containing at least 8 to 15 kilograms of cocaine each through the TSA security system at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. Rodriguez-Vélez said that about five mules were used on each flight, with each mule checking-in up to two suitcases.

Between 1998 and 2016, they are alleged to have smuggled 20 tons of cocaine through the airport.

“These individuals were involved in a conspiracy to traffic massive quantities of illegal narcotics to the continental United States,” Rodríguez-Vélez said in a statement.

Six current and former TSA employees, José Cruz-López, Luis Vázquez-Acevedo, Keila Carrasquillo, Carlos Rafael Adorno-Hiraldo, Antonio Vargas-Saavedra, and Daniel Cruz-Echevarríae allegedly smuggled the cocaine through while working as TSA officers at the airport, where their responsibilities included providing security and screening for checked and carry-on baggage placed on outbound flights.

According to the news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, defendants Edwin Francisco Castro, Luis Vázquez-Acevedo and Ferdinand López were facilitators who connected the drug trafficking organizations to the TSA employees who smuggled the cocaine onto airplanes. Miguel Ángel Pèrez-Rodríguez, who worked for the airport security company, supplied the cocaine to drug trafficking organization.

Rodríguez-Vèlez said defendant Javier Ortiz assisted drug trafficking organizations as an employee of Airport Aviation Services as a baggage handler/ramp employee. Allegedly, he would pick up suitcases he knew contained cocaine from the mules at airline check-in counters. Ortiz would then place the suitcases into the X-Ray machines that were being monitored by the employees in the TSA drug trafficking organization. After the suitcases had been cleared by TSA, Ortiz took the suitcases to their designated flight, making sure no narcotic K-9 unit or law enforcement personnel were present when the suitcase went from the checkpoint to the airplane. Once suitcases were loaded onto the plane, Ortiz would call the drug trafficking organization member and let them know it was clear for mules to board the plane. Ortiz also paid TSA employees for clearing the suitcases through TSA security, according to the indictment.

Defendant Tomas Dominguez-Rohena assisted the drug trafficking organization by taking the suitcases that contained cocaine after they had been cleared by TSA members or smuggled past security to their designated flights. Defendant José-Mercado served as a mule.

If convicted, the defendants face a minimum sentence of 10 years up to life in prison. According to U.S. Attorney’s office, the investigation was initiated by TSA.

Ariana Marisol is a contributing staff writer for REALfarmacy.com. She is an avid nature enthusiast, gardener, photographer, writer, hiker, dreamer, and lover of all things sustainable, wild, and free. Ariana strives to bring people closer to their true source, Mother Nature. She graduated The Evergreen State College with an undergraduate degree focusing on Sustainable Design and Environmental Science.